my purple monkey

going through the motions

September 27, 2008

Passed

Just an update on the Child Protection Act I mentioned a few days ago. Well, it passed the senate and is now approved with 60 co sponsors! I am overjoyed that finally funds will be released and law enforcement hired and trained to help these children and bring these bastards to justice. 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys are estimated to be sexually molested before age 18. It is our duty to protect these children. Thank you Oprah. Thank you Senators. And thanks to everyone who wrote or called their senators to get this passed. You really made a difference.

September 20, 2008

Growing Up

I never started a baby book for Sophie. I'm sure I'll regret it, I think even now I am starting to, but I just always thought that I blog about her milestones, so I don't need to. Then I realized recently that I don't blog about her much at all lately! A picture here and there, but that's about it. Maybe when we decide to have baby #2 I'll start a proper book. But until then I'll try and make more Sophie-related-goings-on posts.

She turned 17 months last weekend. For some reason I feel like 18 months will be a big milestone, almost like a birthday. Maybe it's because clothing and toys have a new 18-24 month category? I think also because I've read so many big changes happen after 18 months. More talking, more individual imaginative play, an interest in potty training. We will see! But for now she seems to be a typical toddler of her age-running around, babbling and saying some words (mama, dada, naina (her aunt), cat, keys, cheese, wa wa, ball, box, more, done), grouping and stacking objects, reading her picture books, and imitating lots of behavior. She loves to walk around with her plastic cell phone and pretend to talk. Something she undoubtedly picked up from me and her nanny! She seems truly interested to know the names of things, pointing things out and then looking at me to see what I call it and seeming to store it in her "vault" for later.

Anyhoo, we picked up this great chair from Ikea last weekend and she absolutely loves it. It's definitely her favorite toy in the apartment. I knew when I saw it online that it was something she'd enjoy. It spins, and best of all it has a cover that she can pull down and hide under. I highly recommend it for anyone with a toddler.

Also, something else I wanted to add. What happened to Saturday morning cartoons? I turned the TV on this morning, and found absolutely no cartoons except for the Nickelodeon ones. I don't get it? One of the joys of growing up for anyone in my generation was to wake up early on Saturday morning, get your cereal, and watch a few hours of cartoons. I just don't understand! Not that we let Sophie watch TV yet, but still. Maybe I will create my own Saturday Morning Cartoon show for her with DVD's when the time comes : ) Smurfs anyone?

September 18, 2008

Thanks, But No Thanks

Earlier at the town hall meeting, a woman rose to speak and said was a Democrat who previously supported Hillary Clinton but now backed the Republican ticket.

“Give us some details and examples of your strategies and plan for economic empowerment for women,” she said.

McCain signaled for Palin to answer the question.

“Well first let me take a shot at that, and I’ll tell ya, I’m a product of Title IX in our schools, where equal education and equal opportunities in sports really helped propel me into the—I guess into the position that I’m in today where,” Palin said.

McCain then interjected, “Could I mention she was a point guard on a state championship basketball team.”

After the crowd’s applause died down, Palin continued: “Sports were very, very important to me growing up, you know just learning about self discipline and healthy competition and about what it takes to win and even how to graciously lose sometimes. But how to win, that’s what it teaches ya. Now, I was a product of Title IX where legislation allowed that equal opportunity. Now if we have to still keep going down that road to create more legislation, to get with it in the 21st century, to make sure that women do have equality especially in the work place, then we’re there because we understand that in this age we have all got to be working together. I respect you so much that you are a Democrat recognizing that John McCain and me as a team of mavericks understand where you’re coming from, and we can work together on these issues. But yup, equality for women, for all, that’s going to be part of the agenda and I thank you for that question.”

This could be our next VP folks. Better send McCain some vitamins to keep him strong n' healthy if they win.

September 17, 2008

Child Protection Act 1738-Please read this

I saw the most horrific Oprah show ever on Monday. So horrific that I felt, and still feel, physically ill. The show was on Child Molesters & Child Pornography and their prevalance in the USA. Honestly I think Oprah took it too far, and I saw things that I can NEVER, EVER forget. Things that I can't believe humans can do to one another. Things that I could never imagine even in my worst nightmares. And these things are being done to our children EVERY SINGLE DAY. The horrors that happen everyday in this country, and the world, to innocent children, some as young as only months old, is horrendous. And to make things worse these images and videos are being traded on the internet like baseball cards, and the demand is increasing. I beg of you, I plead with you, please write to your Senators NOW to ask them to sign the Child Protection Bill that is being proposed next week.

This has nothing to do with your political ideas. This has to do with protecting babies and children who are raped and molested daily. Currently our law enforcement only has the ability to go after 2% of these predators. TWO PERCENT. You can click on the link here, which has a sample letter, and simply click on the senate link here to copy and paste the letter to them.

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

-Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation. -Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding. -Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.

While googling what news stories I could on this show, I found this unfortunate article from Fox News about how this Bill is in trouble as the Democrats and Republicans are fighting over who would take credit for this act, and also refusing to sign unless they attach other bills onto it, such as legistlation for the interstate commerce of non-human primates. Are you fucking kidding me? You won't pass a bill to go after men who are raping, videotaping and trading images of toddlers because of fucking chimpanzees? This is just too much to handle.

Please do something and write to your senator now. It literally takes 2 minutes. It's the very least we can do.

September 16, 2008

White Privilege

While I don't agree with all of this, it is interesting nonetheless...

This is Your Nation on White PrivilegeBy Tim Wise9/13/08

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto is "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college and the fact that she lives close to Russia--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because suddenly your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose "next door neighbor" qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you're a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them.

White privilege is being able to give a 36 minute speech in which you talk about lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour speech the week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would do if elected.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to go to a prestigious prep school, then to Yale and then Harvard Business school, and yet, still be seen as just an average guy (George W. Bush) while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then to Harvard Law, makes you "uppity," and a snob who probably looks down on regular folks.

White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.) and that's OK, and you're cut out to be president, but if you're black and you graduate near the top of your class from Harvard Law, you can't be trusted to make good decisions in office.

White privilege is being able to dump your first wife after she's disfigured in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you go on to call the c-word in public) and still be thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you're black and married for nearly twenty years to the same woman, your family is viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called "terrorist fist bumps."

White privilege is being able to sing a song about bombing Iran and still be viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the maturity to be president, while being black and suggesting that the U.S. should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements with them, makes you "dangerously naive and immature."

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism and an absent father is apparently among the "lesser adversities" faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her convention speech.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

September 12, 2008

Keith Olbermann special comment on September 11th

September 11, 2008

Block Island

September 04, 2008

RNC

As I cringed my way through the RNC last night, with all their below the belt low class blows and stupid jokes, I wondered how much of what they were saying was factual. Luckily I found this top story in Yahoo today. Damn shame when they are already telling lies, and they aren't even in the office yet.

It's sad how so many people were already taken with Palin, before they even heard her speak! How can you blindly jump on a bandwagon without knowing the facts first? Without knowing the candidate? This is what is so fucked up about this country. So many don't bother to really know the candidates, they just go with their party of choice. Or if they are male, or female, or black, or white, how many children they have, or whether or not they go to church-or, better yet, someone they want to have a beer with. Please people, learn from the mistakes of the last 8 years and really think about who you are voting for this time around. You screwed us for the last 8 years, let's not run the country completely into the ground.

And don't even get me started on Giuliani. Sorry buddy, but Obama made it a lot further than you in this race.